The Charleston Symphony is outstanding, especially for the size of the city of Charleston. The performing arts scene in Charleston is alive year around, and especially active during the holiday season!
For season tickets, call CSO box office 843-723- x 110 For single tickets call Ticketmaster, 843-554-6060

One Vendue Range, Prioleau Street, Charleston, SC 29401

The City Gallery at Waterfront Park is the newest exhibition space added to the City of Charleston's cultural facilities. It is operated by the Office of Cultural Affairs. Unlike the smaller City Gallery at the Dock Street Theatre, this new space features over 9,000 sq, ft. of exhibit space on two levels. One side of the gallery overlooks the Pineapple Fountain in Waterfront Park which overlooks the Cooper River and Charleston Harbor. While the gallery at the Dock Street Theatre features exhibitions by artists from the local area, this new space will feature exhibitions with a regional and national scope.

Executive Director - Ellen Dressler Moryl

City Gallery
133 Church Street
Charleston, SC 29401

Gallery Hours: usually Mon.-Fri., noon-5pm when there is an exhibition in the facility.
Admission: Free

Phone: 843/724-7305
Fax: 843/720-3967

Spoleto Festival USA is a huge annual event in Charleston, South Carolina. People come from all over the world every year to the Spoleto Festival in Charleston.

Artistic successes and packed houses characterized the 29th Spoleto Festival U.S.A.
May 27-June 12, 2005. The festival set a box office record for the third year in a row with $2,532 million in sales.

Spoleto Festival USA was founded in 1977 as the American counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of Two Worlds) in Spoleto, Italy. Pulitzer prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti began the Italian festival in 1958 as a forum for young American artists in Europe. The festival quickly became an artistic home for a large group of artists both traditional and experimental, who found the mix of dance, theater, opera, music, and the visual arts to be both exciting and stimulating Maestro Menotti planned an American festival, so he searched for an American city that would offer the charm of Spoleto, Italy, and also its wealth of theaters, churches, and other performance spaces. Charleston, South Carolina was the perfect counterpart. Charleston is small enough to be dominated by non-stop arts events during the 17 day festival, but also large and sophisticated enough to provide a knowledgeable audience and appropriate theaters.

Spoleto Festival USA has maintained traditions of those first festivals such as a dedication to young artists, a fascination with contemporary effort, an enthusiasm for providing unusual performance opportunities to recognized masters in their fields, and a commitment to all the performing arts.

Each year audience members experience a broad range of artistic styles and forms, including classical ballet, modern and post-modern dance, opera, chamber symphonic, and choral music, jazz, theater, and the literary and visual arts. For 17 days each year, the arts become the most important activity in Charleston.

More than 120 performances are offered each season by artists from around the world with as many as ten performances on any given day.

In addition, Piccolo Spoleto, the city-organized companion festival, schedules approximately 800 events over the same period of time.

Spoleto Festival USA has earned a reputation for offering programs of the highest artistic caliber, supporting new and innovative works, nurturing outstanding young artists, and expanding public appreciation of the arts.

Festival USA will take place from May 27-June 12, 2006

The Dock Street Theatre hosts the Charleston Stage & The Footlight Players.
Plays & Performances year around - used greatly for Spoleto performances also.

The Gibbes Museum of Art is the flagship of Charleston's visual art community. The Museum was opened in its current location in 1905, yet the Carolina Art Association, which operates the Museum was established in 1857.

The Carolina Art Association is dedicated to the cultivation of the arts and art education in the greater Charleston metropolitan area. The Association adheres to this purpose through the operation of the Museum and the Museum Studio.

Through acquisition, conservation and interpretation of fine art emphasizing American art with a Charleston perspective, the Association enriches the lives of residents, regional communities and visitors.

Executive Director: Elizabeth Fleming

Gibbes Museum of Art
135 Meeting Street
Charleston, SC 29401-2297

Hours: Tue.-Sat., 10am-5pm; Sun., 1-5pm; closed Mon.
Admission: Yes

Phone: 843/722-2706
Fax: 843/720-1682